An oblast (/ˈɒblæst/ or /ˈɒblɑːst/)[a][b] is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
The term oblast is borrowed from Russian область (pronounced [ˈobɫəsʲtʲ]), where it is inherited from Old East Slavic, in turn borrowed from Church Slavonic область oblastĭ 'power, empire', formed from the prefix oб- (cognate with Classical Latin ob 'towards, against' and Ancient Greek ἐπί/ἔπι epi 'in power, in charge') and the stem власть vlastǐ 'power, rule'.
[1] In Old East Slavic, it was used alongside оболость obolostǐ—the equivalent of об- 'against' and волость 'territory, state, power' (cognate with English 'wield'; see volost).
[1][4][2] In the Russian Empire, oblasts were considered to be administrative units and were included as parts of Governorates General or krais.
Because of the Soviet Union electrification program under the GOELRO plan, Ivan Alexandrov, as director of the Regionalisation Committee of Gosplan, divided the Soviet Union into thirteen European and eight Asiatic oblasts, using rational economic planning rather than "the vestiges of lost sovereign rights".